


it's a mystery where you'll find me

by DevilishKurumi



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilishKurumi/pseuds/DevilishKurumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of getting the full indie treated, <i>500 Days of Summer</i> romp through the woods with someone he's hopelessly in love with, Stiles winds up trudging silently through the forest towards the Hale house by himself.</p>
<p>ambiguous s2 setting written entirely because Allison and Scott's indie music videos in the woods during season 1 were adorable and I only wish Stiles could get the same affection somewhere - more of a general character study than anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's a mystery where you'll find me

            Stiles wishes that his after-school escapades were more like Allison and Scott's.  Sneaking out in the afternoon, in the evening, meeting in the woods, running hand in hand and tumbling through the leaves while looking pretty much like the perfect couple.  Sometimes, Stiles figures they must be permanent fixtures in some indie band's music videos.  He's seen the playlists they share headphones to listen to, he knows it's totally possible that every song was written for them.

            Instead of getting the full indie treated, _500 Days of Summer_ style romp through the woods with someone he's hopelessly in love with, though, Stiles winds up trudging silently through the forest, up towards the old Hale house.  He's got his headphones in, but he's only sort of invested in the music that's playing.  He doesn't even know the band, he just picked it up off the net one day because a commercial had played it and it sounded good.

            He's not planning on sticking around - he just wants to check up on the pack, make sure they're okay, make sure Derek's not beating the crap out of them during training because he's seen the bruises as they heal and they aren't pretty -

            Isaac barrels into him from the left, knocking him down with more force than Stiles is really used to, since most of his werewolf buddies know that he's kind of delicate compared to them.  It feels a little good, actually, to go flying a foot and a half before crashing to the ground with Isaac tangled up in his legs.  His iPod flies further, yanking the earbuds out of his ears.

            "Jesus!" he gasps, staring up at the sky.  The flying bit had been okay, and even hitting the ground wasn't so bad, but the wind still gets knocked out of him.  Isaac is kneeling over him, completely disregarding the concept of personal space, and he's babbling.

            "Are you okay?  Oh my god, what are you doing here?  I could have killed you - shit, get up, get up!"

            "It's fine," Stiles is saying, but Isaac is pulling him up already, and he doesn't let go even as Stiles trips over his feet to grab his iPod and still keep up with the werewolf yanking his arm out of its socket.

            "You don't understand, Erica -"

            "Right behind you," Stiles says, immediately, because if Erica is chasing Isaac, that means they're in a fight, and Erica can be a little hard to talk sense into.  She prefers the whole _kill first, ask later_ thing.  Being knocked down is fine - being mauled by a pissed off werewolf?  Not so much Stiles's thing.

            They run for two minutes, Stiles already getting seriously winded at the pace, and then Isaac slows.  "She stopped, we can slow down.  Holy crap, are you sure you're okay?"

            "Dude, I'm fine.  I've been knocked around twice as hard by Derek, I don't think you running into me does much other than bruise my admittedly fragile ego.  Why are we running, though?  What did you do?"

            Isaac stares at him like he's crazy.  "It's what I'm _not_ doing," he says, and then Erica's voice climbs through the trees.

            "I can hear you!"

            "Shit," Isaac says, and Stiles runs when he does just because that's what you do.  When a werewolf runs away, you follow.

            He can't keep up, of course, but Isaac looks impressed nonetheless when he realizes Stiles is still behind him.  He grins, then, and it's kind of ridiculous because he's not winded and Stiles is fucking gasping for air, but Stiles finds himself grinning back, and then he's tackled again.  This time, it's Boyd, who doesn't so much tackle him as grab him around the waist and put on the dead stop, gravity yanking Stiles forward at his arms and legs before they realize his torso is stuck to a concrete block with arms.

            "Jesus!" he gasps.

            "You're gonna pass out," Boyd says.

            Isaac looks conflicted, like he wants to bolt, but then Erica drops down from the trees and a rush of words comes out of the puppywolf's mouth.  Damning words like, "Stiles got caught first, _he_ makes dinner, that's how this works!"

            " _What_?" Stiles asks, flailing.  "Hell no, I just followed the one running away, I didn't even know what was at stake here!"

            "Steak sounds awesome," Boyd says.

            "Yeah, good call," Erica says.  "Derek has a grill."

            "Oh my god," Stiles moans.

            "Boyd," Derek's voice calls, and immediately Stiles is on his own two feet again, wobbling a little because he is really out of breath.  Derek is out of the way, leaning against a tree, and Stiles stares at him.

            "Oh my god," he says, with dawning horror, once he's able to breathe again, "You were making them play tag to find out who would buy _dinner_."

            "I don't want to cook," Derek says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

            "Oh my god, you are the absolute worst dad ever."  Derek makes a face, but Stiles doesn't think he's really offended.  "Forcing your kids into the literal Hunger Games.  Shame on you."

            "You still got caught."

            "Yeah, _well_."  Stiles huffs and puts his earbuds in, plugging them into his iPod, and shrugs.  "I wasn't aware of the steaks at stake here."

            Erica groans.

            Stiles hits play, a little jarred because his playlist is shuffled and now he totally is listening to the awful hipster music he jacked off Scott's phone, and then he says, "Now I know," and runs.

            They don't sprint after him right away; he knows that they're giving him a head start because he's a human, but he's got his own special tricks.

            They give him ten minutes, and he's already a quarter-mile away, practically dying from lack of air but not caring.  Scott and Allison's playing-in-the-woods music fills his ears, and he sees a blur through the trees to his left, then his right, and then he can feel feet behind him, pounding on the dirt and gaining.

            Stiles drops to his hands and knees and straight up knocks the wolf behind him over.  It hurts like a bitch when a knee clobbers him in the back, but he leaps up and whoops triumphantly at Boyd's sprawled out form before darting back towards the house.

            Erica is laughing from his right.  Derek is walking ahead of Stiles, coming straight towards him at a pace that would imply nonchalance if Stiles didn't know he had to run to get this far this quickly.

            "You're going to lose," Derek says as Stiles dashes by.

            He knows it won't work, but Stiles shouts anyway, "Derek said he'll buy sirloin if you catch him!"

            Isaac and Erica scream with glee, and then Derek is outpacing Stiles, giving him a look of one-hundred-percent ensured death by mauling.  It looks kind of like bullshit from Stiles' position.

            Derek eventually tackles Stiles.  They're twenty paces from the dilapidated porch that Stiles assumes is home base, and Derek's arms catch him around the waist and he goes down with a slightly pained whoosh of air escaping his mouth.  Derek is a heavy weight above him, but to his credit he acts more like a blanket than a brick wall.  It's too late to stop a dogpile, either, because Isaac tangles himself up in Derek's legs and collapses on top of them, Derek holding the majority of their combined weight off Stiles, who's laughing breathlessly.  Derek snorts and Stiles thinks that's a laugh, too.

            Erica lies on top of them like she's the real winner, and Boyd puts his hands to his knees as he catches what little breath he lost.

            "Tri-tip," Derek mumbles.  Stiles squirms until he can pry one of his earbuds out.  "Tri-tip," he repeats, louder now, "That's what _you_ promised."

            "So did not," Stiles says, and then he says, "What if I pay for pizza?"

            Erica groans but Isaac says, "If you make it a meat lover's, I guess."  Derek snorts again.  Stiles sees the corner of his lip twitch.

            "Pizza it is," he says, "If you guys could, like, move so I can get my phone out of my pocket."

            The pile on top of him does move, though it's mostly Derek who gets up; Erica and Isaac stay on the ground, cuddled up, and Boyd even sits next to their heads, leaning back on his hands.  Stiles realizes that they are literally the dumbest pack of puppies ever.  But in a good way.

            Derek shoves his shoulder with a foot, then walks away.  The betas stay with Stiles.  "I think he wanted to use the grill," Boyd admits slowly, like it's not really his problem but it could be an issue later.

            "Oh."  Stiles tilts his head back in the dirt to watch Derek's retreating back, then groans and closes his eyes.  "Oh, all _right_ ," he moans loudly, rolling over and sitting up on his knees.  "I'll buy you guys something to grill, don't be such a baby!"

            Derek's shoulders roll a little and then he nods without stopping, disappearing into the house.  Erica and Isaac are grinning.

            "I'll be back in like, what.  Twenty minutes?" Stiles says, and then he shouts, just to be a dick, "And you're cooking for me too!"

            "He says okay," Erica says.  Stiles imagines it was more like a huffy, bitchy little "whatever," but he'll just take Erica's word for it.

            Stiles makes it halfway to his car when he realizes that Derek just did what he assumes is the werewolf equivalent of looking sad until someone takes pity on him.  It feels just as much like a con as it does coming from a dog.

            Stiles runs his hands through his short hair and rolls his eyes, but the rest of the walk back is with a smile, and he lets the indie playlist run.  Scott and Allison might have that whole _500 Days of Summer_ thing going, but Stiles is pulling a _Where the Wild Things Are_ , and that movie suits him a whole lot better.


End file.
